Religious authority and social media: old wine in new bags?

The Protestant Church in the Netherlands recently added a ‘social media guide for ministers and pastoral workers’ to its professional code. The guide encourages the use of social media like Facebook and Twitter as a communication channel, acknowledging its potential to reach new audiences. But it also highlights certain risks - in particular, the difficulty …

Faith of Obama shifts “good Christians are right-wing” frame

CNN has an excellent piece on the faith of Barack Obama. The author, John Blake, argues that Obama is a religious pioneer that challenges the dominant frame where a good Christian is equated with a right-wing conservative. According to Blake, Obama brings back the social gospel tradition which was dominant at the start of the …

Church and Rural Society: Just Stories of Decline?

A contribution by Jacobine Gelderloos. Regularly I come across voices who express doubts about the relevance of the church for society, both inside and outside the church. People who say that the church is ‘out of touch’ with society, that the church is outdated because it has not been able to keep up with developments …

Over de secularisering van het alledaagse en sacralisering van de politiek

De gedachte dat religie niet aan het verdwijnen is, is inmiddels gemeengoed. Wat dat betreft is de rol van religie nog het best te vergelijken met een bal die je probeert onder water te duwen. Als je de bal op de ene plaats onder water duwt, weet je nooit precies zeker waar de bal weer …

Transnational faith based development and the post secular experiment

In her blog-post on the Religion Factor, Cecelia Lynch discusses FBOs in the context of the neoliberal competition on the ‘market’ of international development. In my work on and with development FBOs in the Netherlands I see this illustrated. Changes in government funding for development organizations, has created a highly competitive market in which religious …

God Bless America: US Civil Religion and the President as Prophet, Priest and Martyr of the Nation

Ever noticed how nearly every time a US president makes a speech, it ends with “God Bless America”? Ever wondered why? Contrary to popular assumption, it’s not just because the United States is one of the most religious countries on earth, although this certainly plays a part. Several researchers have highlighted that the United States …

The Puzzle of Religion in US Presidential Politics

With the count down on till the USA votes for its next President, The Religion Factor reflects on the role of religion in this important process. Foreign observers of the 2012 US presidential campaign may be forgiven for being puzzled by the role of religion in American politics. On the one hand, there is the …

The Religion Factor: A missing link in Migration Studies? Part two

In the previous post Geertje den Oudsten shared with us her experience at a Summer School on Migration in Greek this summer and challenged the idea that religion can only be used as a classifactory concept in Migration Studies. Today part two. The reality of these migratory experiences are inescapable in current-day Greece. Against the backdrop of the global economic crisis, …

The Religion Factor: A missing link in Migration Studies? Part One

This summer I was very happy to be able to attend a Summer School named 'Cultures, Migrations, Borders' on the Greek island of Lesvos. The programme aimed at MA students and PhDs from different fields, and although there were no lecturers nor any other students with a Religious Studies background, I assumed the subject of …

A Fragment of the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife? Part Two

The previous post discussed the current state of affairs with regard to the finding of the fragment of papyrus in which Jesus seems to refer to his wife. The papyrus has been shown to date from the fourth century, the ink is still undergoing testing. Before the definitive results are published, however, polemics have already …